Change of Face
by Kitty Cat Demon
Summary: A new job leads to some new friends. One should always remember, when you shake up a universe, that the universe doesn't play favourites.
1. Chapter 1

**Change of Face**

by: Kitty Cat Demon

**Disclaimer**: I don't own gargoyles, I don't make a profit from gargoyles, so please don't sue me :) I'd like to thank everyone who's ever written a piece of gargoyle fanfic. Without further ado...

**Rating**: PG

* * *

_**Change of face **_

* * *

"This looks like the place." The plump cabbie called back to me.

I looked up, and sure enough, I had arrived.

"That'll be $7.50." I handed him a ten and stepped out of the vehicle. I took a deep breath, and walked in the front door. The sign above the door read GEN-U-TECH.

* * *

**The Beginning**

_**Bzzzzzz!**_

I slapped the alarm clock off and groggily sat up in bed. I looked over at the clock which flashed 6:30 a.m., as though mocking me.

"Ugh! I hate mornings!" I yelled into my empty apartment. I slipped out of bed and began my morning routine.

An hour later I was pouring over the paper's want ads, when the phone rang. I picked up the phone.

"Cathy?" Gary's voice drifted from the phone.

"Gary? What do you want?" I responded in a bored tone, "I told you, it's over." Ever since our break-up a month before, Gary had been calling incessantly, trying to get me to go out with him. It seemed this time would be no different.

"I, um, was just wondering, if you weren't busy tonight, um, you wanna go to a movie?"

That was the proverbial straw that broke MY back. Having been recently fired, told by my landlord he wanted me out, dumping a whiny loser, and having my cat/best friend hit by a car, this was just too much.

"No, Gary!" I shouted into the phone. "As a matter of fact, I never want to see you again!" Just then an ad caught my eye, "You know what Gary! I'm moving, far away! Good bye!" slamming the phone down, I looked at the want ad.

POSITION AVAILABLE--LAB ASSISTANT  
FLEXIBLE HOURS  
CALL GEN-U-TECH, NEW YORK, NY

The item that caught my eye was the flexible hours. _Maybe,_ I thought, _they'd let me work nights._ The prospect was so attractive I called right away.

* * *

One week later, just before the landlord was going to throw my ass out on the street, I received a letter, postmarked from New York. It was an acceptance letter, and a plane ticket for New York. The letter mentioned my salary, my company-paid living accommodations, and my possibilities for advancement, all up-front. For a few minutes I just stood gawking. Then I grabbed my already packed bags and rushed out of my apartment.

Before I left, I stopped by the landlord's office.

"Harry," I told him as he opened his door, "keep the furniture, I'm going to New York!"

And so began my new life.

* * *

After arriving in New York, I did what any newcomer to New York should do, I picked up a copy of the local tabloids.

Splashed across the front in big, bold letters was a title proclaiming: **"GARGOYLES LIVE AMONG US!"**. Below was a fuzzy picture of a shape in front of the moon.

_Ah, well._ I thought to myself, _beats little green men._

* * *

Apparently working for GEN-U-TECH was a job with many perks, one of which was a fully loaded apartment in uptown Manhattan. It had everything: cable TV, plush furniture, fine drapes. It was even a penthouse suite. Boy, was I ever impressed. The landlord even allowed pets in the building.

That very afternoon, I went in search of a cat.

* * *

Three hours and seven stops later, I had a new friend. A completely black cat with icy blue eyes.

I placed her on the floor of my apartment, where she immediately claimed possession of my couch.

"Hmm..." I smiled at her, "What would be a good name for you?" As if in response to my question, the cat jumped from the couch and began stalking toward something across the room.

When she pounced, it was into a shadowed corner, by the bookcase.

I smiled, "How about Shadow Stalker, or Shade for short?"

The cat just yawned at me and fell asleep in her patch of darkness.

"Shade it is."

My new wall clock chose that moment to chime the hour.

"Yikes! Midnight. I've got to get up early to do chores tomorrow."

One mad dash and thirty minutes later, I was in bed drifting into dreamland.

* * *

**Where Dreams Reside**

Colours seemed to drift past me in no apparent order or form. A mirror drifted in the surrounding gloom. I peered in. There I saw a gray cat, then my reflection, followed by a strange melding of the two.

From the surrounding colours rose a shape. It seemed huge. But what stepped into view seemed to be human, until a sudden light passed, revealing catlike features. Before me stood what I had seen in the mirror, only with fur like a tiger.

"Beware, beware..." a deep voice warned me. "Beware of..."

* * *

_**Bzzzzzz!**_

I awoke with a start, as the alarm sounded. The dream already fleeing my sleep-fogged brain.

A quick look at the clock confirmed it was time to get ready to go out.

* * *

After morning chores and a quick lunch, it was time for work. I caught a cab outside my apartment and told the cabbie my destination.

"GEN-U-TECH?" he asked surprised. "I thought they was outta business?"

His comment surprised me, _Out of business? Then why would they be hiring?_

"I really don't know." I replied, then turned to stare out the window, making it clear the conversation was over.

Sometime later I was abruptly brought back to reality.

"This looks like the place." The plump cabbie called back to me.

I looked up, and sure enough, I had arrived.

"That'll be $7.50." I handed him a ten and stepped out of the vehicle. I took a deep breath, and walked in the front door. The sign above the door read GEN-U-TECH.

* * *

The minute I stepped through those doors, I should have stepped right back out. I could _feel_ the wrongness in the air.

A man with close cropped, orange hair, in a white lab coat stepped forward to greet me.

"Catherine Kirk, I presume?" Something about the man bothered me. Maybe it was his voice, or the way he carried himself, or maybe it was the way he looked at me, as if I were a bug he could easily crush.

"Yes." I answered.

"I am Doctor Anton Sevarius. You are to be my new lab assistant," he held out his hand for me to shake. I grasped it quickly, and let go just as fast. He made my skin crawl.

"If you'll come this way..."

He led me through a maze of halls and doors, talking all the way.

"I'm afraid you've come at a bad time. My current...project...requires I begin work after dark. However, you can assist me in setting up..."

I glanced down at my watch, 1:30 p.m.. I had been told to report for work at two p.m.. Now I knew why. It was a good four to five hours until dark. I let the doctor's words wash over me, listening, but not really paying attention.

"Ahh, here we are." The doctor stepped aside to reveal a drab white room. "I trust you remember my instructions?"

I repeated his litany word for word. _I'm glad I can remember things without having to listen hard,_ I thought as I repeated what I was to do. He left me alone to set-up for his experiments later.

I walked into the room and looked around. I quickly did a double take to one of the corners.

"What in the..." my voice trailed off as I noticed what appeared to be a life-sized gargoyle statue in the corner of the room.

It was very lifelike, standing almost six feet tall. It towered over the rest of the room. It seemed to have been frozen in a scream of anger. Its face ended in a beak which was wide open, displaying an impressive set of teeth. Its wings were thrown wide, and its tail seemed to want to thrash about. All in all, it made quite a demonic picture, especially with the chains. For the life of me, I could not figure out why a stone stature would need to be chained to a wall.

"Well," I said to myself, "If he didn't have his mouth wide open, he might be cute." I smiled at my own joke, and went about preparing for later tonight.

* * *

Twenty minutes before sunset, I had finished the doctor's chores. A full tray of examination equipment lay next to an exam bed in the middle of the room. So, being alone, I sat down to wait.

* * *

Five minutes before sunset, Dr. Sevarius returned. He seemed to be in an exceptionally good mood. I was about to ask why when I noticed the gun.

Before I could stop my mouth, the question tumbled from my lips.

"What's that for?" I blurted out.

"You'll see." I swear, his smile seemed to get ten times bigger when he said that.

Suddenly, I had that sense of dread. Then pieces of a dream flew through my mind _Beware..._

At sunset, it began...

* * *

©1999 


	2. The Escape

**Change of Face--part 2**

by: Kitty Cat Demon

**Disclaimer**: Gargs ain't mine, I ain't making money, and I ain't using good English.

**Note**: Read Change of Face - Part 1 first for this to make sense.

**Rating**: PG

* * *

_**Chapter 2  
The Escape**_

* * *

A loud crackling noise filled the room, it sounded as though a hundred eggs were breaking at once. I glanced over at the statue, it seemed to be breaking into a million tiny pieces. Then, I looked closer and saw the dark, rusty red colour underneath.

The bits of red started growing, suddenly stone chips went flying everywhere. Where only moments before there had been a magnificent statue, now appeared a flesh and blood...gargoyle.

The word just popped into my head. Yet, I knew it was right. _What do you know,_ I thought. _The tabloids actually got something right._

I took a closer look at our...project, from a safe distance, of course. His skin was dusky red, from the end of his tail to the tip of his beak. His hair was white, and he was dressed only in a loincloth.

I imagined how I must look to him. A small female, dressed in a white lab coat with short brown hair and dull brown eyes.

"Ahh, good morning!" Sevarius greeted the gargoyle in an extremely chipper tone. "And how are we feeling tonight?"

The gargoyle just glared at him. If looks could kill, I imagined Sevarius would have been quite dead by now.

The gargoyle startled me further by speaking. "What do you want now, Sevarius?" He growled in what was, in my opinion, a nice voice. "You wanna poke me with something else, or am I just here to endure more torture, having to listen to you talk about how brilliant you are?"

"Ahh, I see your wit has suffered for your stay here." Sevarius seemed to enjoy the sound of his own voice. "Ms. Kirk, if you will please pass me that large syringe..."

Uncertainly, I picked up the syringe and handed it to him. "You're not gonna hurt it, are you?" I was pretty sure the gargoyle was male, but I felt if I referred to him as an it, it wouldn't matter to me what Sevarius did to it.

"Of course not, m'dear. I'm merely taking a blood sample." As if to prove his sincerity, Sevarius began walking toward the gargoyle. However, his plans suffered derailment when the gargoyle snapped at him. All I saw was a flash of white, _look at those teeth._

"Ah, I see you won't make this easy. A pity." Sevarius said to it.

"Yeah, like I'm just gonna let you near me. Right." The creature replied to the doctor.

The creature looked at me, for a brief moment I felt like he was looking into the depths of my soul. When he looked away, the feeling left me, just another lost moment in time.

It was then I knew that this wasn't a creature, it wasn't an IT, he was a person, with thoughts, feelings, a _life._

"So, Sevarius, what did you do with your last assistant?" the gargoyle asked. Not 'what happened to your last assistant', but 'what did _you_ do with him?'

While I had been lost in thought, Sevarius had drawn his gun.

"Well," he said, "Since you refuse to cooperate, we'll have to do this the hard way." He trained the gun on the gargoyle.

"Wh..what are you gonna do with that?" I stuttered.

"Not ta worry m'dear, it's simply a mild tranquilizer."

The gargoyle growled at Sevarius, his eyes lighting up with an eerie white glow. _PSST!_ A sudden release of air was the only warning of the dart's release. With a moan, the gargoyle sank to the floor, fighting a losing battle with consciousness.

I looked over at Sevarius. He smiled at the slumped form of the gargoyle. Then he looked to me.

"Now, m'dear, we have work to do before he wakes up." Sevarius moved towards the still form of the gargoyle, syringe at the ready. With a grin he put the syringe in the gargoyle's arm and pulled the plunger, slowly filling it with the gargoyle's blood.

"Here," he handed it back to me. "Pass me another, just a few more and we should be done for the night."

* * *

A half-hour later Sevarius had five syringes filled with the gargoyle's blood.

Seemingly finished with his ghastly business, Sevarius turned to me, "Well, m'dear, my work here is done." he grinned at me. "I'll just leave you here to put things away, while I take my little goodies," he picked up his blood samples, "And put them to good use."

"Yes sir," I responded, but he was already out the door. I began tidying up. After a while I became aware of a soft moaning coming from the gargoyle.

_I must be insane._ I thought as I walked towards him. When I was just out of his reach I stopped.

"E...excuse me, are you alright?" I asked nervously. "C...can I g...get you anything?"

I thought I heard him chuckle. He tried to push himself up into a sitting position. Instead he got tangled in his chains and fell back into a heap.

"Ooooo...my head." he lifted his beak up off the floor and focused on me. "How about some water?" I could see the pain in his eyes.

Quickly, I walked over to the lab's sink, grabbing one of the paper cups, I filled it with water. I took the cup over to the counter where I'd left my purse, putting it down while I fished around for my package of aspirin. I found it and shook two out, taking them and the water over to the gargoyle.

"Here," I said, "take these, they'll make you feel better."

He glanced up at me, a smile on his beak. "Not afraid I'll bite you?"

Truth be told, I was deathly afraid of just that, but I wasn't about to let him know that. So, I did what he probably least expected, I smiled. Admittedly, it was probably a poor imitation of a smile, but it was the best I could do under the circumstances. I held my hand out, with the aspirin and water, to him, hoping he _wouldn't_ bite.

Carefully, I assumed so he wouldn't alarm me, he took the water and aspirin from my hand. He swallowed the aspirin and water in one gulp, looked at me and said, "Is this where I say, 'take two aspirin and I'll call you in the morning'?" He smiled up at me.

"Actually," I responded, "I believe the line is mine." I finally managed to smile back at him, a real, honest to goodness smile, without a trace of fear or nervousness. I think he noticed the change for he tried to sit back up, albeit slowly.

I noticed his slowness, and unconsciously reached over to help him up. In that moment, I forgot about the wings, the beak, the tail; he was just another person, in need of help. It was then I decided I had to help him get the hell outta Dodge, so to speak.

I spent the rest of the night in conversation with Brooklyn, which I learned was his name. Little did we know what fate had in store for us.

* * *

In a small room filled with monitors, a man sat, watching a girl and a gargoyle, when he saw her help the gargoyle to his feet, an evil smile passed over his thin lips.

"So it begins..."

* * *

I went home that morning feeling _better_ than I had when I left for work. I'd made a new friend. Granted, he wasn't human, but he was nicer than some of the _men_ I'd encountered.

When I reached my apartment, I was exhausted. I fed Shade and just made it to bed before dropping from exhaustion.

* * *

**Where Dreams Reside**

"Beware, beware..."

The tiger thing floated by on a cloud of darkness, calling out his warning to all who would listen. "Beware..."

Lights, colours, sounds, tastes; all floated by on the breezes of imagination. I turned around, to come face to face with Brooklyn.

"Help me..." A flash and he was gone. I turned again, only to spot him at the edge of my vision, I began running after him though the shadows, hoping to find him. I suddenly dropped to all fours to run faster. _Why?_

There he was, just over a rise. "Help...me..." I ran faster, the ground a blur at my feet. Colours, merging in the background, creating a rainbow. The ground just continued on, but I never seemed to get any closer to my goal. Suddenly, the tiger thing was back.

"Beware, beware the man who watches. Beware..." His voice flowed over me, causing pain, anguish, sadness, joy...

* * *

I awoke with a start. I glanced over at my alarm clock, I still had an hour before I was due to get up. Realizing I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep I began getting ready for work.

While I washed and dressed, my mind was forming a plan, a plan of escape for Brooklyn. I figured the worst GEN-U-TECH could do to me, would be to fire me for releasing their... _specimen._ The word left a bad taste in my mouth.

_Well,_ I decided, _If I'm gonna bust him loose, I'm gonna need a few things._

I cleaned up the breakfast dishes, fed Shade, and headed out.

* * *

Five minutes before sunset I was back in the lab with Sevarius, waiting for Brooklyn to wake-up.

Sevarius smiled at me, "Well, m'dear, today's the big day." he said.

"Big day?" I wondered what he meant.

"Yes, the big day. Today, we dissect."

I plastered a grin on my face for the doctor's benefit, all the while fighting down nausea. This...this... _doctor._..he wanted to cut apart a living _being_! I could tell by his expression, not only did he _want_ to do it, but he would _enjoy it_.

Only moments before sunset, Sevarius looked at his watch, and seemed to remember something.

"Blast!" he yelled, "I have a dinner appointment with Ms. Destine in a half hour. Here," he handed me the syringe full of sedative. "When the gargoyle wakes up, inject him before he notices you. I should be back by ten at the latest. I expect to see him under and ready for operation upon my return."

He turned and headed out the door, presumably to see this Ms. Destine.

_Well,_ I thought, _I couldn't have planned this better._ But still, some small doubt gnawed at the back of my mind.

Sunset came and Brooklyn awoke with a roar. I quickly ran over, and clamped his beak shut.

"Shhhhh!" I told him, "I'm gonna get you outta here." He raised his brow ridges at me. I let go of his beak.

"How?" he whispered.

"Dr. Sevarius has gone for a dinner engagement. I should have about..." I glanced over at the wall clock, it read 6:45. "At least two hours to get you outta here."

"What about these things?" he pointed to the chains.

"Not a problem." I walked over to the counter and picked up my purse. As I came back over to him, I rummaged around inside it until I found what I was looking for. I pulled out a case of lock picks I had bought earlier.

He smiled at me, something I found I was beginning to like. "You know how to use those?" he asked in a joking tone.

"Hey," I responded, "You don't date a locksmith for a year without picking up a few tricks. Now hold still."

I grabbed one of the locks, and set to work.

* * *

"Excellent. Things are proceeding according to plan." The man sat at his row of monitors, watching Catherine remove the locks from the gargoyle, one by one.

"Soon, very soon..."

* * *

An hour later, and the chains were lying on the floor in a heap, and Brooklyn was having a good stretch.

_Yawn!_ "Now what?" he asked.

"Well, there's a window at the end of this hall, and we're about twenty stories up. I figure we make it the fifty or so feet down the hall, and we're home free."

"All right! Come on." he headed towards the door.

"Wait!"

He stopped and looked at me, "What?"

"Oh, I dunno, but I think maybe, the security monitors in the hall, might just pick up a large red gargoyle walking down the hall."

He looked down at himself, "Good point."

"Here," I handed him a trench coat that had been left behind by someone. "Keep your wings and beak down, your tail in, and we might make it further." I smiled at him.

He caped his wings over his shoulders and put on the coat. I noticed he had also wrapped his tail around one of his legs.

"What do you think?" he asked, posing like a fashion model.

"Hmm..." I pulled Sevarius's hat off the hook on the back of the door, and put it on his head. "Not bad, hopefully it'll get us outta here."

* * *

He watched the gargoyle put on the coat, the one he had left in the room. He laughed when he saw her place the hat on the gargoyle's head. With baited breath he watched as they opened the door and crept out into the hall.

"Just a little further..."

* * *

Carefully, quietly, I opened the door and peeked out. There wasn't a soul in sight. I waved Brooklyn forward and we began our trek to the window.

The hallway was eerily still, as though the very air was waiting for _something._

Twenty feet to go, then fifteen, ten. Then, all hell broke loose.

* * *

©1999 


	3. The Change

**Change of Face--part 3**

by: Kitty Cat Demon

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Gargoyles, I don't make a profit from gargoyles, don't sue me.

**Rating**: PG

* * *

_**Chapter 3  
The Change**_

* * *

"Now!"

* * *

The hall lights went out, to be replaced by red flashing emergency lights, a loud siren's wail filled the building.

"What's going on?" I could barely hear Brooklyn over the din.

"I think we've been noticed!" I replied, just as a squad of security forces entered our hallway. At the head of the group stood Sevarius, brandishing his tranq gun.

"I want them alive!" he shouted to the security forces. Brooklyn, however, wasn't giving up without a fight. As the first security goon reached us, Brooklyn spread his wings, ripping the trench coat to shreds, and knocking the soldier off his feet.

Next, a pair of soldiers rushed Brooklyn at once. He grabbed them both in mid run by their shirt collars, thumping their heads together, thereby rendering them unconscious. He then launched them back at their comrades, knocking over the entire security squad.

Sevarius, meanwhile, had slunk closer and drawn his tranq gun. He aimed at Brooklyn's back and pulled the trigger.

"Get down!" Screaming I leapt into Brooklyn. The world seemed to slow down as I rammed into his back with enough force to knock us both down. I saw the dart hit me in the side, and red spears of pain immediately leapt across my vision. Reality came back into focus, and at a more normal speed. I heard Sevarius laughing.

"You fool! That wasn't a tranquillizer, it was..." His words were cut off as my blood roared in my ears.

I screamed, and my world was plunged into darkness.

* * *

**A Universal View**

Brooklyn's attention was riveted upon the soldiers, so he didn't notice Sevarius sneaking up on him. He heard a shout of "Get down!" and was ploughed into the floor as Catherine hit him dead in the back.

The wind was knocked from him, and for a moment, he almost blacked out. He caught his breath and heard Sevarius say something about a "genetic poison".

Then Catherine screamed and fell. He caught her easily. Looking around he spotted a window close by, he dove for it. Wrapping his wings around Catherine to protect her from flying glass, he smashed through the window, spread his wings, caught a current, and glided off.

* * *

Brooklyn headed straight to the castle perched atop the Eyrie Building. Catherine hung unconscious in his arms, her face a mask of pain. He flew high and fast, hoping against hope that maybe Xanatos's doctors could fix whatever Sevarius had done to her. Twice he almost dropped Catherine as she struggled against the internal pain.

He arrived at the castle, only to be greeted by a group of gargoyles with questions, questions he didn't have time to answer.

"Lex!" he yelled to a small olive coloured gargoyle with wings between his arms and legs. "Go get the doctors! She's hurt!" Carefully, he lowered Catherine to the ground, where she continued to convulse in pain, oblivious to her strange observers.

"Who is she Brooklyn?" Angela, a purple female, asked.

"She's a friend. She helped me escape from Sevarius." he replied, looking mournful. "Sevarius tried to shoot me with something, but she jumped in the way first."

"Sevarius? I thought he was dead." Angela replied.

Goliath, the largest and the leader of the gargoyles chose that moment to enter the conversation. "It appears we were wrong in that assumption." Turning to Brooklyn he placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry, I'm sure Xanatos's doctors will do everything in their power to save her."

Lex came scrambling around the corner, running so fast he nearly collided with Bronx, the blue gargoyle guard dog. "The doctors are coming!" he panted, nearly out of breath.

Shortly thereafter, the Eyrie building medical staff came zipping around the corner, stretcher in tow.

* * *

Two hours later, the doctors had finished their examination of Catherine, and had gathered the gargoyles in the library to reveal their findings.

Dr. McCoy looked at the concerned faces surrounding him and swallowed nervously. "It appears that the tranquillizer dart was filled with a kind of genetic poison. Specifically, it was meant to target a gargoyle's system, and to destroy it from the inside out. We believe it was derived from the blood samples Sevarius took of Brooklyn while he held him captive."

Brooklyn broke in, "If it was meant for gargoyles, then what's wrong with Catherine?"

"Well, frankly, um...we have no idea." The doctor replied in a meek tone.

"What!" Brooklyn roared. "What do you mean you have no idea!"

"T..technically it shouldn't have affected her at all. It most certainly should not have had this kind of effect on her." he looked down at his notes.

"What do you mean, 'this kind of effect'?" Goliath asked.

"Well, um, it seems to be rearranging some of her internal organs, and well, umm..." The doctor seemed at a loss for words.

"Spit it out lad." Hudson, an elderly brown gargoyle, urged him.

"Well," he pulled out an x-ray taken earlier, "As you can see here, it appears to be changing her." He pulled out another, more recent x-ray. "It appears that she is developing wings, and a tail, see here, and here." He pointed to various places on the x-ray.

"My colleagues and I believe she is changing into something similar to the mutates." The mutates were a group of Sevarius's earlier experiments. Humans who had been changed into half person, half felines with wings.

The doctor continued. "Apparently there was enough gargoyle DNA in the poison that, somehow, her DNA began absorbing it. Now, this poison also has some of the same properties as the mutagen Sevarius used on the mutates, some type of bonding properties. From the test results, it appears that she may turn into something part gargoyle and part mutate. I'm afraid we can't find a way to stop or slow the transformation."

"Ye said 'may' lad. What did ye mean?" Hudson asked.

"I mean she may change, or she may not survive the night." A grim silence settled over the gargoyles.

Dr. McCoy looked down at his notes and continued through the silence. "Unfortunately, these changes appear to be happening faster than our records indicate they should. Any painkillers we give her just don't have time to take effect before being flushed out of her system. I'm sorry."

The gargoyles stood in silence. Abruptly Brooklyn turned and leapt of the castle, into the night.

"Brooklyn!" Lex made to go after him, but Angela held him back.

"No Lex, let me go." she said softly.

"Alright." Angela glided off after Brooklyn.

* * *

Brooklyn came to a rest atop one of the many apartment buildings in New York. He sat at the edge of the building, hanging his feet over the side. He put his head in his hands and just sat there, thinking.

"Brooklyn!" Angela came gliding towards him. He didn't even bother to look up. "Brooklyn?" Angela landed next to him, calling is name again in hopes of a response. Getting none, she simply sat down next to Brooklyn and waited.

She didn't have long to wait. "It's all my fault." Brooklyn said softly. "She wouldn't have been shot if it weren't for me." he looked over to Angela. "She's going to die and it's all my fault."

"Brooklyn!" Angela said in a firm tone. "It's not your fault, and she's not going to die."

Brooklyn looked towards the stars, as if in search of an answer, a forlorn expression on his beak. "But the doctor said--"

"The doctor said," Angela interrupted, "that she _might_ die. However, don't you think that if she wakes up, she'd want to see a familiar face? _When_ she wakes up, it's going to be in a strange place, with strange people, you really should be there..." Angela trailed off quietly, as Brooklyn's attitude changed, from one of self-pity to one of resolve.

"You're right," he stated. Then he grinned at her, "Thanks Angie." He laughed and took off.

Angela yelled after his retreating form, "Don't call me Angie!"

* * *

**Where Dreams Reside **

I was swimming in a river of pain. The shores were just out of reach, and with them, relief from the pain. Sevarius stood on the shore, watching me struggle, laughing.

The winged tiger flew by. "Beware, beware". Brooklyn flew by, and away, "Thank you". A shadow fell over me, growing, looming, suffocating me. The one who watches. He laughed, a horrible, deep, hate filled laugh. A laugh which took shape and reached out, intent on my destruction.

* * *

He raged in his world of monitors, screaming obscenities at his view of the outside world.

"Blast it! He missed! That incomprehensible idiot! He came with within five feet of the gargoyle and he missed!"

A hand lashed out, destroying a monitor in a shower of sparks. The man looked down at the destruction he had wrought, a smile slowly overtaking, then replacing, the anger.

"Ah, well, perhaps something can be salvaged after all. We'll see how well humans can survive a poison made to turn a gargoyle to dust. Yes, perhaps something can be salvaged after all."

He sat back down to his monitors, a grin on his face, not even noticing when someone came and replaced the smashed monitor.

* * *

I awoke only to find more pain. I ached all over, from the top of my head, to the tip of my tail.

_Tail?_ I looked down, carefully, mindful of the pain. Sure enough I seemed to be sporting a gray furry tail. My head slammed back into my pillow, alerting a nurse to my state of consciousness.

I closed my eyes and blocked off my mind to the impossibility before me. _I don't have a tail. I don't have a tail._ Obviously the pain I was in was making me hallucinate. _I don't have a tail._ It became a litany in my mind. A lifeline which I held onto to stay sane.

I heard voices, drawing nearer, still I refused to open my eyes. I heard shuffling feet as someone walked over to the side of my bed, still me eyes stayed closed.

"Hey," it was Brooklyn. "The doctors say you're awake. I was wondering if you felt better?" I didn't answer. I heard him begin to fidget nervously, what's more, I swore I could _smell_ his nervousness.

"Catherine, please open your eyes." I didn't want to. My mind insisted that if I did, I'd be sorry, but I couldn't ignore his pleading tone. Slowly, carefully, staring straight ahead into space, I opened my eyes. I stared at the ceiling for a few minutes before letting my eyes wander over to Brooklyn, there they found his look of concern, guilt, and relief that I was all right.

"Are you alright?" he repeated.

"I...I don't know." I responded. "My head hurts like the dickens, and I think I'm seeing things."

"The doctors say the pain should stop soon. Wait, seeing things, what kind of things?" he asked.

"When I opened my eyes the first time, I could've sworn I had a tail."

He looked past me for a moment, his eyes searching. He must have found what he was searching for, for he seemed to come to a decision.

He reached down to me. "Come on," he said. "I need to show you something."

Carefully I took his arm and attempted to stand up, the pain in my head already receding to bearable levels. I got up and took a few steps. He led me over to a full-length mirror and positioned me in front of it.

"Look." It was more a command than a request, involuntarily I looked. Looking back at me was a strange creature. Built like a person, or gargoyle, but with a cat's features. Gray fur covered my entire body, long black hair cascaded down my back. I found I had huge wings, built like Brooklyn's, with the three 'fingers' at the top. A long gray tail, that was indeed not an illusion, but was quite attached to me. My hands still had five fingers, but now seemed to house retractable claws. The most startling thing was my eyes, no longer a dull brown, but a vivid green, and with iris's like a cats. In addition, a streak of pure white hair ran through the rest of my black mane.

"Oh my..." I whispered. I began to hyperventilate. I couldn't seem to get enough air. The room began a wild dance around my head, and darkness crept at the edges of my vision.

* * *

"Doctor!" Brooklyn yelled. "Something's wrong!"

Dr. Woo, the petite Chinese doctor came running. "Oh dear, she's going into shock. Quickly, place her back in bed."

While Brooklyn placed Catherine back in bed, Dr. Woo prepared a sedative, which she then administered to Catherine in order to calm her down.

"Try talking to her, she needs to calm down." Dr. Woo advised Brooklyn.

* * *

A soft voice penetrated through my thick layers of panic.

"Shh...everything will be alright. It's not so bad, being a gargoyle..."

_Is that what I was now? A gargoyle?_

Gradually my breathing returned to normal, the panic receded, leaving only a dull ache of pain.

"Brooklyn?" I whispered.

"Yes?" he replied, concern colouring his words.

"Will," I pause for a moment, thinking. Finally, "will you help me be a gargoyle?"

"Definitely." I heard his response before the darkness claimed me once again.

* * *

Catherine slept away the night, unaware of things which were lurking just around the corner.

* * *

A few minutes before dawn, I awoke, feeling somewhat better, although not quiet like my old self.

Brooklyn was still there, watching over me. I smiled a bit.

"You still here?" I asked in a small voice.

"Yeah," he answered, "But I gotta leave now, I don't think the doctors would appreciate having to walk around me all day." he grinned at me.

"Have a good sleep." I told him as he got up to leave.

He stopped and looked at me, "Just rest," he told me, and left the room.

The sun rose, and I fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

**Where Dreams Reside **

There were colours, but this time they seemed brighter, friendlier. As I watched they took shape, forming a brightly lit meadow on a spring day. A breeze blew by, carrying the scent of wild flowers.

I heard a voice.

"Well, well. Looks like old doc S is up to the same old tricks."

A small man appeared in front of me, floating in mid air. He was dressed in a medieval garment of purple and red, he sat there suspended. His white hair blowing in the breeze, his ears were long and pointed, but for some reason I felt this was the most natural thing in the world.

"Who are you?" my voice echoed oddly through the surrounding area. "Where are we?"

"Where are we?" he acted shocked. "Why we're anywhere you want to be. This is where dreams are made, the scenery is completely up to you." He began floating around me in a circle, examining me from all sides. "As for me, why I'm just a concerned Child of Oberon."

He floated up into the sky, and hovered there. "Are you sure this is the right one?" he seemed to be talking to thin air.

"We..."

"...are..."

"...sure."

Three voices answered one after the other. Three women appeared each identical, save for hair colour. Each had a different hair colour, one black, one blond, and one pure white. They hovered in the air, seeming mysterious and foreign.

"She has a destiny,"

"To travel to other places,"

"To help those in need."

"Weelllll... I dunno..." The first elf, the male, said. "She doesn't seem that important to me." he gave me a wink.

"She will live forever,"

"She will heal the injured,"

"She will be a great hero."

"Well," he smiled at me again. "If you say so. _I_ think she'll need a little help." the male elf disappeared in a green flash, leaving me alone with these weird sisters.

"You will have magic,"

"You will have knowledge,"

"You will have a life long friend."

The original elf popped back into existence. "In due time girls, for now," he looked at me, "WAKE UP!"

* * *

©1999 


	4. Loose Ends

**Change of Face--part 4**

by: Kitty Cat Demon

**Disclaimer**: Gargoyles - not mine, Cat and Shade - mine, ask before using.

**Rating**: PG

* * *

_**Chapter 4  
Loose Ends**_

* * *

I awoke with a start, minutes before sunset, the dream fading away into the depths of my mind.

* * *

He watched her wake up from her sleep, noting the changes she had undergone hours before.

"What an interesting development." he eyed the monitors suspiciously. "But Sevarius couldn't have messed up _that_ badly. I wonder..."

* * *

"Well, I'm glad to see you're awake."

I sat up and turned towards the source of the voice, finding myself face to face with David Xanatos, the billionaire familiar to everyone, due to his brief stay in jail, and the resulting media frenzy. _And here I am dressed in a shredded outfit_, the result of my impromptu change.

He held his hand out to me, "I'm David Xanatos, and you are...?" he raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Catherine Kirk," I replied automatically. Then reality came crashing back when my newly formed tail twitched into my field of vision. _Perhaps a more fitting name may be in order_, I thought.

"Call me Cat." I found my childhood nickname fitting. I smiled, revealing an impressive set of fangs.

"Well, Cat," he returned my smile. "Allow me to be the first to officially welcome you to Castle Wyvern." When I didn't take his offered hand, he lowered it, slowly. "Well," he recovered, "I'm sure you'd like to be there when the gargoyles wake up. Follow me." He turned and began walking through the castle.

I followed him through the castle halls, and up a flight of winding stairs. We came out into the castle courtyard, where seven stone gargoyles could be seen perching on the edge of the battlements. The sun was only moments away from setting.

I watched as the sun dipped below the horizon, leaving a trail of colour. Finally, it was dark. It began with a massive cracking noise, then seven loud roars echoed across the courtyard as the gargoyles burst free from their stone shells.

Brooklyn turned around and saw me standing there. He hopped down from his perch and walked towards me.

"Hey," he said. "Glad to see you're feeling better."

The rest of the gargoyles came up behind Brooklyn.

"Brooklyn," a purple female addressed him, "Aren't you going to introduce us to your friend."

Brooklyn seemed to turn a darker shade of red, I could tell he was blushing.

"Um, of course." he stammered. "This is--"

"Cat." I cut in, "Just Cat." I gave him small smile as Brooklyn looked back at me.

"Well Cat" a large purple gargoyle greeted me. "I am Goliath, leader of this clan."

I looked up at him, he was _big_.

"Goliath," Brooklyn asked, "Can Cat be part of our clan?" he shot me a hopeful look.

Goliath seemed to think this over for a few moments. Finally, "Of course. Cat, we would be honoured to have you as part of this clan."

_Wow_. I thought about it. I had no one to miss me, no friends or relatives. I obviously couldn't go back to my job. I came to the only logical conclusion.

"I would be very grateful to be a part of your clan."

Brooklyn leapt up and let out a whop of joy. Then introductions began in earnest.

* * *

A half hour, six new friends, and a meal later, I realized something that had been nagging at the back of my mind from the moment I woke up.

"Shade!" I suddenly yelled, causing all seven gargoyles to jump in surprise.

"What?" Lexington asked me.

"Shade, my cat. She's been locked in my apartment since yesterday with no one to look after her or feed her. I've got to go get her." I looked pleadingly at Brooklyn. "Please?"

"Goliath..." he started.

"Yes Brooklyn, take Cat to her apartment to retrieve this Shade."

"Thanks." Brooklyn practically ran out the door, dragging me behind him.

We came out to the courtyard.

"Here," Brooklyn said, "is where you get your first gliding lesson."

"My what?"

"Gliding lesson, using your wings."

"How does it work?" I asked.

"Well, first, you come stand over here." he hopped up onto the castle wall, and pointed to a spot next to him. "Next, spread your wings. Like this." he spread his wings wide to demonstrate. I climbed up next to him, and spread my wings. "Here," he said, "Take my hand." I placed my five fingers into his four.

"Now," he began, "Jump!" He leapt from the castle dragging me after him.

After a few minutes of unsteady gliding, and much yelling at him for scaring me so, we were well on our way.

* * *

By the time we reached my apartment, I was quite a good glider. We landed by my balcony door, and I peered through the darkness.

"Something's wrong." I told Brooklyn. "When I left, I had the kitchen light on for Shade."

Brooklyn gave me a worried look. "Maybe this isn't such a good idea..." he trailed off as I reached for the balcony door handle.

The door slid silently aside, revealing a seemingly empty apartment.

"That's odd," I said. "I could've sworn I left this locked." Cautiously I entered the apartment with Brooklyn was right on my tail.

A black blur came shooting out of nowhere. One minute I was searching the darkness of my apartment, the next I was flat on my back, wrestling something just slightly smaller than Bronx. Hot, moist breath plastered my fur to my face as I tried to keep this _thing_ off my neck.

* * *

He laughed as he watched the girl grapple with the beast.

"Ah, yes, this definitely has amusing possibilities."

* * *

A flash of red and Brooklyn had thrown the thing across the room, where it landed on its feet, and turned to charge me again.

However, instead of charging me, it simply stood there, looking us over, looking for a weakness to exploit.

"What is it?" Brooklyn asked.

"I'm not sure." I responded.

What do you want? The voice seemed to come from everywhere, yet nowhere. It was feminine, but strong, like it came from a person used to getting her own way.

"Did you hear that?" I asked Brooklyn.

"Hear what?"

I don't want him to hear me, just you. I realized the voice was echoing in my mind.

"What's it waiting for?" Brooklyn asked. The creature's gaze settled on Brooklyn.

For an answer. I heard, and I could tell from the shocked look on Brooklyn's face that he had heard it too.

I fixed the creature with an evil glare. "What I want is my business, this is _my_ apartment. And for that matter, what have you done with my cat, Shade?"

The creature seemed to be trying to burn a hole in me with its eyes. What do you know of Shade? Who _are_ you?

"I'm Catherine Kirk, this is my apartment, and no over grown pussy cat is gonna keep me out!" That's when it hit me. Like an anvil falling out of the sky, the realization struck me, hard and fast.

"Shade, is that you?" Slowly, cautiously, the creature flowed forward. Inch by inch it came closer, until it was standing in a patch of light streaming in from the open door. There it stopped, on display, glaring at us, as though daring us to disapprove.

The creature standing before me bore a striking resemblance to Shade, if Shade had been as large as a tiger. Covered completely in black fur, claws retracted for stealth, she stood, her blue eyes staring at me in confusion, tail whipping back and forth.

The horrible creature which had previously attacked me was now nothing more than a house cat, true, a house cat the size of Bronx, but still a cat.

Brooklyn gaped at me. "This is your cat? Whatcha been feeding it?" he grinned.

Shade drew close Catherine? the voice was barely a whisper in my mind.

I held out my hand, "It's me."

Shade sniffed my outstretched paw It is you! a joyous laughing sounded in my head. What happened to you? Shade asked me.

"It's a long story, but never mind me, what happened to you?"

I'm not quite sure, Shade said, It all happened around noon yesterday...

* * *

**Yesterday, Shade's Point of View**

I was basking in a pool of sunshine that was coming in through the window. I shook suddenly, feeling a draft, so I got up and headed over to the balcony doors. There, suspended as if by magic, was a man. He was dressed oddly in red and purple clothes, with hair covering his head, nearly obscuring his long, pointed ears.

"Hello kitty," he said. "I'm here to make sure a friend of yours can fulfill her destiny. Big Daddy Oberon says if I get this right, I get one night free to be myself."

I looked at him. "Meow?"

He floated down to my level. "Hmm...well, if you are going be a help to anyone, I'm going to have to make a few improvements."

He floated into the middle of the apartment, keeping his eyes on me the whole time.

"Lemme see...how does that spell go? Ah, yes..."

"Cat the shade of darkest night,  
you must be able to win the fight.  
To strike the evil a deadly blow,  
I bid you now, grow, grow, grow!"

I felt strange for a few minutes, as though I were receiving a mild shock. When the feeling stopped, it seemed to me as though the man were smaller somehow.

"Well," he said, "My work here is done, enjoy." He began floating towards the window. Half way there he stopped and turned around. "By the way, besides making you a _lot_ bigger, I gave you a few surprises, which you'll discover, in time." A bright flash of green light, and he was gone.

* * *

Shade finished her story and looked at us expectantly. Brooklyn looked thoughtful. I was baffled, something about the story seemed familiar.

"How strange..." I trailed off as I heard a noise. It sounded like a group of people were running up the stairs outside. Shade's ears flicked back as she too heard the noise.

Someone's coming. she stated.

"Brooklyn, we'd better go."

"Hmm? Go?" he said in a soft voice. "Oh, go. Ya, we'd better get outta here."

We headed towards the balcony. As we neared it, there was a loud banging, then a loud crash as the front door to the apartment was smashed in.

Several men with guns ran through the doorway.

"There's the creature!" one of them yelled. "Shoot her!"

Five or six of the men began firing energy weapons at us.

Brooklyn yelled at me, "Go!"

"What about Shade?" I yelled back, "She can't glide!"

"I've got her. Go!" he pushed me off the balcony, scooped Shade up in a bear hug, and dove off the building. We glided of into the safety of the night.

* * *

**One Hour Later, GEN-U-TECH Laboratories**

"How could you fail?" Sevarius demanded of his mercenaries. "All you had to do was get the girl, and bring her back here." He stopped in front of their leader, "Is that so much to ask?"

"Sir, she jumped off the building. We thought it best not to pursue."

"She WHAT!" Sevarius screamed at the man.

"She appears to have changed into a gargoyle sir. She jumped off the building and glided away. The other gargoyle was still with her, as well as what appeared to be a black tiger."

_So_, Sevarius thought, _he was right_. "You are dismissed."

"Yes sir." The mercenaries filed out of the room, leaving Sevarius alone in his spacious office.

"So, she escaped you again, did she?" A deep voice filled the room, and began chuckling.

At the centre of the room, light seemed to flee as a dark figure slowly appeared.

"You were right." Sevarius addressed the figure. "She mutated into some form of gargoyle."

"Of course I was right." The figure had now completely formed at the centre of the room. Individual features could not be discerned, only a general man-shape. Light seemed to avoid the shape, while all the darkness and shadows of the room swarmed towards it. "I'm always right."

"Well then, how do you propose I capture her? This phenomena must be studied." Sevarius said.

The dark creature began laughing, a horrible frightening laugh. A laugh which could reduce the bravest warrior to a weeping child. A laugh which had driven men to the brink of insanity, and further.

"You fool." the figure said. "You cannot hope to capture her. She is unique. In all the multiverse, she is the only one. There is no other Catherine Kirk, she is the keeper of destiny's flame, the saviour of the defenceless. She is a traveller."

"A What?"

"A traveler. The defender of the weak and innocent. She is that which evil men fear. She cannot be captured and caged like some animal." The figure paused in his litany. "Have you video records of her escape?"

"Of course." Sevarius replied, "What kind of scientist would I be if I didn't keep track of my subjects?"

The dark figure moved towards Sevarius's desk. "Show me the segment where you shot her."

Sevarius typed a few commands and the video came up on the computer screen. Together they watched in silence as the screen replayed the events of a few nights past. On the screen a miniature Sevarius pulled the trigger on his miniature gun.

"Freeze it." the dark figure ordered. "Now play it forward frame by frame."

Slowly the scene unfolded. As the bullet reached the point halfway between Sevarius and Catherine, for exactly one frame, there was a flash of dark green light.

"Magic." The word hung in the air between them. "But the question is, whose magic?"

It was clear at that point that the dark figure was thinking, and talking only to himself. He moved away from the computer, back towards the centre of the room, the darkness dissipating back into the corners of the room. He continued talking to himself even as his form was dissolving.

"It was too dark for fae magic, and the wrong colour for humans. But I've seen that colour somewhere before..." The words trailed off as the figure disappeared.

* * *

©1999 


	5. Destiny's Beginning

**Change of Face--part 5**

by: Kitty Cat Demon

**Disclaimer**: Gargoyles - not mine; Cat, Shade - mine, please ask before using.

**Rating**: PG

* * *

_**Chapter 5  
Destiny's Beginning**_

* * *

**Two Nights Later**

The sun dipped below the horizon in a spectacular display of red, orange and pink. Shade stood, silently watching the sunset, waiting for the gargoyles to awaken.

As the sky grew dark, it began, spider-web cracks formed on seven gargoyle statues. With loud roars, stone chips flew, and the gargoyles were awake.

Brooklyn turned, and hopped down from his perch, looking around for Cat. Instead, he found only Shade, waiting.

"Hey Shade," he addressed the large cat. "Where's Cat?"

Shade looked up at Brooklyn, and projected her response in a clear mind voice. She's working.

"Working? Where? On what?" Brooklyn let lose a string of questions.

She's working, Shade replied, in a room, downstairs. Xanatos gave her an old research and development room when she asked for a place to work, early this morning. She locked herself in after lunch and hasn't come out since. And she didn't feel the need to share what she was working on.

Brooklyn raised a brow ridge. "I'm going to see Xanatos."

* * *

"I don't know what to tell you." David Xanatos told Brooklyn. "She came to me this morning and asked for a place to work. I gave her one of the old R&D rooms and haven't seen her since."

"Come on Xanatos, you don't expect me to believe you let her have a room without leaving a way to spy on her." Brooklyn accused.

Xanatos chuckled. "True, but it doesn't seem to have worked in this case. Observe."

Xanatos picked up a remote and turned on a TV. "You can see here, before she started working, she found and disabled all my security cameras, including the small one in the ceiling vent."

Brooklyn watched as, one by one, six security cameras recorded their own demise. He turned back to Xanatos, "But surely you've got some way to let yourself into the room."

"I do. The door is controlled by electronic key card. Theoretically, she shouldn't be able to lock me out as long as I have one of the cards. I sent Owen down with the card to see if we could still get in." Xanatos sounded doubtful.

Owen chose that moment to return. "I regret to inform you, Mr. Xanatos, that Ms. Kirk seems to have locked us out."

For a moment, Xanatos actually looked shocked, but only for a moment which quickly passed. "Well, it seems I'll have to have a word with the fellow who assured me that that couldn't happen." He turned back to Brooklyn. "It seems that until Ms. Kirk chooses to come out, we'll just have to wait."

* * *

He stared in frustration at the screen. Instead of showing him Catherine Kirk, as he had asked, it was displaying a picture of a little blue cartoon gargoyle, holding a sign which read -- "We are experiencing technical difficulties - Please stand by..." Someone, or something was blocking his signal. This did not make him happy.

* * *

In the secured room, Cat worked, creating devices and weapons which were hundreds of thousands of light years ahead of anything presently available on earth. She worked with a glazed expression, as though she were in a daze.

On the table in front of her already sat two things, what appeared to be a six-inch long metal cylinder, and a radio headset. Still she worked on. The tools in the room were too primitive to be of use in her present work. Instead, she held futuristic and alien devices.

Whenever she would reach for a tool, there would be a flash of dark green light, and the tool would appear. When she was finished with the tool, it would disappear in the same manner.

So, she worked through the night, and through the next day, never once stopping until her work was completed. When she finished, she fell asleep. While she slept, the dreams returned.

* * *

**Where Dreams Reside**

Sunrise. Pink, orange, red. Bright light. There, on the horizon, seven stone statues, the gargoyles.

I began walking towards them. In front of me a wall of darkness loomed up from the earth.

"You may go no further." an evil voice, full of malice and hate, tells me.

The darkness shimmers, begins growing smaller, shaping into a man.

"Your place is not with them." the dark man tells me.

"Who are you to tell me this?" I question the darkness in a frank voice which says, 'I really don't care _what_ you think'.

"I am Darius. I see your future, and they are not in it." The darkness waves towards the forms of the sleeping gargoyles. "Their destiny is much shorter than your own, you are doomed to be alone."

"I don't believe you!" I shout at the thing, wishing it would be gone.

"What you believe is irrelevant, what will occur is not."

The darkness began moving, flowing towards the gargoyle statues.

A soft feminine voice is heard, "The end draws near..."

The darkness reaches out, grasping the statues, crushing them into a powder.

I watch, horrified. I try to move but find my feet rooted to the ground. I cannot move. Silently, I watch. Five left, two left, then...none.

The darkness withdraws, laughing. My feet are released. I fall to the ground, screaming, wailing for the dead...

* * *

Sunset found the gargoyles waking, once again, with only Shade in evidence.

"She's still locked away down there?" Brooklyn asked, "It's been two days."

Relax, Shade told him. She came out a bit earlier. She's in the kitchen getting something to eat...

Whatever Shade said next was lost to Brooklyn as he tore through the castle, down to the kitchen.

He practically flew threw the halls in his hurry to get there. He knocked Owen over in his haste, but didn't even slow down long enough to see the icy stare he received for his mad race.

There, ahead on his right, the kitchen lay. He bashed into the wall in his attempt to turn. Ricocheting of the wall, he came to a stop in the middle of the kitchen.

Brooklyn looked around for Cat. There, he saw her, she had fallen asleep on the kitchen table, next to a half eaten tuna fish sandwich.

* * *

"Cat, come on Cat. Wake up." I heard the voice as though it were echoing from far away. Slowly I made my way back from the misty voids of sleep.

"Hmm?"

"It's Brooklyn," I felt a hand shaking my shoulder. "Wake up."

"Brooklyn?" Still lost in sleep, I wondered vaguely who I knew in Brooklyn that would call me in the middle of the night.

"Come on, it's wakey time." I heard a snort, like suppressed laughter. Slowly I opened my eyes and raised my head.

"Hmm..." I looked around and yawned, revealing some impressive teeth.

"Hey sleepy, it's about time." Brooklyn was standing in front of me, smiling and shaking his head. "All work and no play makes Cat a dull girl."

I grinned at him, he took a closer look at me.

"Whoa, like the new look." he whistled at me.

I looked down at myself, and sure enough, things had been changed, drastically. I stood up and walked towards the reflective surface of the huge walk-in freezer.

I peered at my slightly distorted reflection. Instead of the tattered remains I had been wearing, I was now dressed in some sort of black camouflage material. It was made up of a short-sleeved t-shirt which fit snugly, but was not too tight, and some type of combination tight pant-shorts and loincloth. I had some type of belt which held the holster of a futuristic looking gun on one hip, and a holster which held a six-inch long metal rod. Also hanging on the belt was another metal rod, only this one had a switch, looking very much like something from Star Wars.

On one foot I had a holster which went around my ankle spur, under it, and around my leg, it contained a dagger with various buttons on the handle. Looking at my wrists I found gauntlets made of a silver material.

On my head I wore a communications set, which was a headband-like thing, which started above my left ear, went over my right ear, and had a microphone which seemed as though it had retracted into the earpiece. I also had some kind of silver tiara which went across my forehead, coming down to a point in the middle, where there was some sort of green jewel embedded in it. My wild black hair was held back in a French braid, which the lock of white hair had somehow managed to escape, it was falling in my face, just beside my left eye.

Strapped to my back, between my wings, I felt a backpack. Twisting around for a better look, I found it was medium sized and made of the same material as my clothes.

"Whoa." was all I managed to get out.

Brooklyn looked at me like maybe I'd gone off the deep end. "What do you mean 'Whoa'? Didn't you know how you were dressed?"

"Actually," I looked at him, "I didn't. I don't remember changing, and I have no idea where all theses gadgets came from, or even how they work."

He gave me another funny look. "Whatever. Anyway, I've got patrol tonight, you wanna come along?" his expression turned hopeful.

"Sure, just lemme tell Shade." I grabbed the remainder of my sandwich and headed off to find Shade.

* * *

Thirty minutes later we were gliding over Central Park when we heard a scream.

Brooklyn and I glided down behind some bushes to scope out the situation.

Four very scruffy looking _men_, and I use the term loosely, had a woman pinned to the ground and were trying to rip the clothes off her.

Unconsciously, my hand slipped down to my new weapons. I removed the plain metal rod from the holster, and shook it sharply, twice. It extended into a six-foot long metal Bo staff with only a slight hiss.

Brooklyn looked over at me. "Nice toy," he pointed to the scene in front of us, "Shall we?"

I nodded, we both leapt from the bushes, roaring a battle cry. The four punks turned towards us. The smallest one shrieked "Gargoyles!" and fled. That left three.

The biggest one charged Brooklyn, while the other two advanced on me. _Typical, they head for the weak looking little girl_, as if in response to my thoughts, one pulled a knife, and proceeded to be stupid.

"Here girly, why don't you just put down the pipe, and we can have a good time." He shuffled closer, just him and his little knife.

I flashed him a fang-filled grin. "Come and get me."

He charged me with his knife held in front, I brought my staff up and smashed his hand, causing him to drop the knife. Then I knocked his feet out from under him, and heard a satisfying crunch as his head hit the sidewalk. That one disposed of, I turned, looking for his friend.

I found him holding the woman in front of himself as a shield, while he pointed a gun at her head.

"Y...you m...m...monsters st...stay BACK!" he stammered. I saw Brooklyn come up beside me, eyes glowing in rage.

I held him back, he blinked at me, his eyes returning to normal. I whispered two words, "he's mine."

Brooklyn stepped back, watching. I stepped forward, towards the gun.

"Just put down the gun." I told the punk, in what was meant to be a soothing voice. I stepped a little closer, one small step at a time.

"No way man! I've seen what you things do, just back off!"

I stepped a little closer. I was ten feet away. Unfortunately, I'd just stepped over his line. He began firing at me.

I felt a sharp pain in my wing where I'm sure a bullet passed through, but I just stood there, I couldn't move. I closed my eyes and waited to die. **BANG! BANG! BANG! ** Click.

He was out of bullets. I opened my eyes. All the bullets he'd shot at me were in a pile at my feet. They were squashed flat, as if they had been stopped by a brick wall.

The man looked at me, he looked at his gun, he passed out quietly in the grass. The lady he had been holding turned around, and kicked him, hard, in the package. Then she ran.

Brooklyn came up to me. "Whoa."

"Oh yeah." was the only reply I could come up with. My staff retracted, back to six inches, the sudden movement snapped us out of it.

"That's a cool outfit." Brooklyn pointed to my black and grey shirt. "It stopped those bullets cold." He picked up one of the squished bullets. "I gotta show this to Goliath."

I smiled at him weakly, I remembered the pain I had felt in my wing. "Too bad it only works on the cloth, not everywhere. Could you check my wing? I think one may have hit me."

Brooklyn went around behind me. I nervously put my staff back in its holster. After what seemed like hours, but was in fact a few minutes, Brooklyn came back to where I could see him.

He looked puzzled. "You're sure you were hit?" he eyed me skeptically. "Cause I can't find anything wrong."

"I thought I was..." I trailed off as I realized there was no pain from my wings. Perhaps I had imagined it. "Oh well, come on, let's go back to the castle."


End file.
